Red Sox Magic Number Drops 2 more!

Sure, another two on top of that would have made the weekend a lot more enjoyable. But, I don’t really think I can get too greedy at this point.

You know how sometimes there’s a blowout baseball game? Say, one team has a ten run lead after five innings. Then the trailing team scores two in the sixth, and three in the seventh. Then, they have two men on in the ninth with one out, and the other team’s closer starts warming up. The announcers always say what a victory it is that the trailing team brought it to the point where the closer had to warm up. I feel that way, a bit, with the Red Sox season. I really want to at least have the Yankees closer need to warm up. At the very least, I want them to have to pitch CC when they don’t want to. Of course it would be even better if they didn’t need CC at all after they miss the playoffs. But, one step at a time.

What was actually annoying about the weekend is that it could have been a little better. The Sox aaallllmost pulled out Saturday’s game. You have to feel for young Mr. Kalish. I’m guessing he didn’t mean to be picked off first. It’s not like he was recklessly trying to steal third with two outs or anything. He just got caught. I bet if he had known that Victor was going to hit a triple before he got back to the dugout, he might have kept that foot planted on first. Unfortunately, Victor forgot to let him know ahead of time.

Another annoying thing is that the entire rotation has pitched well recently…just not at the same time. Lackey and Beckett have pitched good games. Buchholz and Lester have pitched good games. Even Dice-K has lit it up quite often. They just can’t seem to get it all working. It seems like one or two of them get busted all the time. Not always the same one or two. Which, I guess, is probably normal. It’s not a rotation of five Pedro’s out there. They all will have bumps. It would just be nice, though, to have all five of them pitch at least their B-game for the next three turns through the rotation. One last kick. Win the rest, and they’re almost assured a playoff spot.

Interestingly enough, this coming weekend marks the only time all year the Sox have an off-day before the Yankees series, other than opening day. It’s only the second time the Yankees haven’t had an off-day before a Boston series. Not only do they not have their usual day to rest, but they have to fight the Rays. These are the best circumstances for a trip to the Bronx the Sox have had all year. Maybe there can be two or three extra inning games during the series.

Go Rays!